Stonedead Festival 2024

Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire – 24 August 2024

Stonedead Festival once again graced the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire with its presence. Inspired by the Monsters of Rock festivals of old at nearby Donnington Park, Stonedead Festival takes place on a single day, with only one stage and a selection of great rock bands both old and new. As a festival it certainly seems to go down well with the fans. Seven months ago the event was completely sold out, and that was before the headliners, Saxon, were even announced. At the time of writing this (just a couple of days since the event), next year’s event is already 85% sold out! They are doing something right! Ticket prices are pretty low compared to other festivals and parking is free and very close to the entrance. The sound for all the bands was spot on with band changeover times at about 25 minutes. The ethos of the festival seems to be nothing more than to have a great time rather than relieve you of all of your money, you are even allowed to bring a limited amount of beer in with you!!
The music kicked off with the winner of a fan poll earlier in the year, The Hot One Two. Coming from just down the road in Cambridge, The five piece rock outfit currently touring their debut album ‘Superbia’, have some super catchy songs with a great pop edge and a real heavy rock heart, complimented by front man, Simon West’s great vocal delivery and charismatic presence. Opening with album closer ‘Playing with Fire’ accompanied of course by plenty of pyro, they played through a selection of great tunes including my favourite, ’God Forsaken Blues’ and finishing up with the rather splendiidly groovy and great to sing along to ‘Tie Me Down’.

All too quickly, the Hot One two’s time on stage was over and Tailgunner’s intro tape was rolling. The rain accompanied Tailgunner onto the stage as they blasted onto ‘Guns For Hire’ with Rhea Thompson and Zach Salvini weaving wonderfully intricate guitar lines throughout their unapologetically classic metal tunes. Singer Craig Cairns almost came a cropper at one point as he took a tumble after slipping on the wet stage but I don’t even think he missed a beat. As the band played through their set, the sun came out and the band continued their assault, even throwing in a wonderfully widdly ‘guitar battle’. With all of the ingredients that we love about a proper old-school metal act, even a spot of union-jack waving, Tailgunner really proved themselves to be a band to keep an eye on, especially if you like your classic metal.
Hailing from Los Angeles, The Bites gave us a masterclass in slick, witty and very catchy rock ’n’ roll. Irresistible sing-along choruses were accompanied by some great guitar work courtesy of Jono Richer, while Jordan Tyler swaggered his way around the stage in a pair of stars & stripes cycling shorts, delivering not only a great vocal but a fantastic performance as well. Playing through many songs from their 2023 album ‘Squeeze’ the Bites put on a fantastic fun show.

Bonafide from Sweden had a classic rhythm and blues sound with singer/guitarist Pontus Snibb easing his way through a selection of songs not only from their latest album, 2023’s ‘Are You Listening’ but a few tracks from 2009’s ‘Something’s Drippin’’ including possibly their most famous tune, ‘Fill Your Head With Rock’.
The next band on were Eclipse, also from Sweden. I knew that I liked their music but until this point I hadn’t seem them live, and to say I was impressed is somewhat of an understatement. With a fantastic rhythm section consisting of the Crusner Brothers, Victor and Philip, and the intricate playing of guitarist Magnus Henriksson, Eclipse already have a massive sound but add to that the vocals of Erik Mårtensson and the result really is something quite massive. Their songs are super catchy and anthemic and I’ll definitely be seeing these guys again soon.
Doro was next to entertain us and the German metal queen has most certainly still got it. With a great voice, she powered her way through a selection of solo songs including ‘I Will Prevail’ and ‘Raise Your Fists in the Air’ as well as some Warlock Tunes such as the classic, ‘Burning Witches’ and of course ‘All We Are’. Doro’s set seemed to fly by, probably because almost every moment of every song seemed to require some kind of crowd participation, whether that was simply a ‘hey hey hey’ or a full on sing-along chorus. Great fun, great songs and classic metal all the way.
Ugly Kid Joe were real crowd favourites and put on a really good show – I overheard a few saying that they were the ‘band of the festival’ (for me that was Eclipse) but they were certainly a lot of fun and had the whole crowd singing along as they played through their hits – even throwing in a respectably good rendition of ‘Ace of Spades’ before of course, finishing the set with ‘Everything About You’.

Stonedead 2024 was a resounding success and I can’t wait to revisit Newark Showground again next year for another dose of very fine rock and metal.
As they say in these parts… See you at the bar!

For dates and more about next year’s event, visit:
stonedeadfestival.co.uk